Thursday, November 20, 2014

Staunton, November 20 – Legislators
in the two autonomous districts in Tyumen oblast and the one in Arkhangelsk
oblast, the three remaining “matryoshka” federal subjects, this week
simultaneously asked for the elimination of direct elections of their governors
in favor of one in which the local legislators themselves would make the
decision.

Moscow officials say this is not
part of a trend, although four republics in the North Caucasus dispensed with
such elections last year and none are planned in the two federal subjects in
occupied Crimea, or a reflection of a drive by the Russian authorities to save
money given the budgetary stringencies that sanctions are making necessary.

But one analyst says that the
elimination of direct gubernatorial elections “will lead to the weakening” of
the influence of the three, although from the center’s point of view, taking
this step now is “logical: the country is being drawn into an economic crisis
and it is important htat Moscow establish tight control” over these “rich donor
regions” (politcom.ru/18313.html).

In a commentary on Politcom.ru,
Valery Vyzhutovich says that the simultaneous appeal by legislators in Yamalo-Nenets
Autonomous District and the Khanty-Mansiisk AD in Tyumen oblast and by their
colleagues in the Nenets AD in Arkhangelsk oblast has raised many questions,
given Vladimir Putin’s interest in amalgamating non-Russian areas with larger
and predominantly Russian ones.

The legislators have asked the
Federal Duma to revise the law so that the AD legislatures will select the
governor from among a list of three approved by the president rather than
having their governors elected directly by the people.That will bring them into correspondence with
the pattern in the oblasts within whose borders they exist.

The AD lawmakers add, Vyzhutovich
says, that this procedure will be “more democratic” because there will be more
candidates and will “guarantee stability in these donor regions,” where much of
the income from natural resources comes and goes into the coffers of Moscow and
the oblast government.

But those considering what this
means, the commentator says, “should remember” that both the Khanty-Mansiisk
and Yamalo-Nenets Ads have sought “divorces” from Tyumen oblast so that they
will be treated just like any other federal subject and not have to coordinate
things with the oblast leadership.

These ADs, he points out, often feel
that they are sending money to the oblast center without getting much in
return, although the reality is quite different. Not only do they get many
benefits from the infrastructure of the oblast, but they would not retain any
more money from their natural resources than they do now if they were to
separate.

Vladimir
Churov, the head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, sought to put what the
three AD legislatures have asked for in context. He argued that it does not
constitute a new trend against elections, pointing out that there will be “no
fewer than 13” regional head elections next September (rusnovosti.ru/news/352939).

Moreover, he
rejected suggestions that eliminating elections was a sanctions-driven measure
to save money, although he said that in the country’s large northern areas, the
cost of holding elections was quite high: In central Russia, each voter costs
the state about 60-80 rubles (1.30 – 1.90 US dollars) while in the north, the
cost rises to 100,000 rubles (2,000 US dollars) per voter given travel expenses
for election officials.

Those differences can be handled, he
said, by introducing “distance voting” rather than by scrapping elections
altogether.